Dicker Turm (Zerbst/Anhalt)

The Dicke Turm stands in the town of Zerbst in Anhalt, a medieval brick tower that once guarded the castle. Originally built in the 13th century as part of the fortress wall, it became a free-standing bell tower for St Bartholomäi church in the 15th century. A Renaissance storey with pointed sound windows was added in 1565 by master builder Ludwig Binder. For more than a century from 1701 a bookshop occupied the ground vault, run by Gottfried Zimmermann. The tower’s bells were replaced in 1969 and again in 2023 with historic bells from Gelsenkirchen. The stone tower rises squarely about eleven metres on each side to a height of roughly twenty-one metres. Its Gothic walls of roughly hewn stone carry spitzbogen doorways on the north and west, a round-arched east gate topped by a clock, and a rectangular south door. The bell chamber shows plain pilasters and cornices beneath a roof of red clay tiles crowned by a copper ball. Segment-arched windows light the mid-storey passage. Visitors enter through the east gate to find a spiral stair that winds past the old bookshop vault. Above, the bell chamber holds the new ring of bells installed in 2023. From the platform beneath the copper ball there are views across the red-tiled roofs of Zerbst to the surrounding Anhalt countryside. The tower’s simple lines and careful repairs after the 1945 air raids make it a quiet witness to seven centuries of history.